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Loosen the Web with RSS
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Posted On Sep 08, 2007
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 I’m quite fond of the Really Simple Syndication (RSS), but it hasn't always been this way. Over the last year or so, while i slowly built a list of RSS feeds for the BBC Web site, I continually scratched my head and wondered, "What's the point?"RSS technology is a result of the growth of XML and its ease of use. It allows Webmasters to produce XML news feeds for their sites easily. Those who run reader software can subscribe to and read the feeds. I understood how RSS worked. What I didn't get was who would see the feeds, why they would read them, and what they would do with the links.
RSS is not a new concept, but many people I know have been very apprehensive of online tools such as this one. People make so many efforts to browse through the bookmarked sites to check which ones have been updated. But anybody using RSS can quickly see the new content. The combination of alert mechanism and information filter is very useful especially where people like me wasted a lot of time opening some slow- loading, graphic-heavy pages. RSS feeds definitely saves a lot of time and money.
What is RSS?
We can call RSS as a family of Web feed formats that are used to publish frequently updated content such as blogs, podcasts or news headlines.
People all over the world have discovered the value of using news aggregators to subscribe to news feeds and updated content from from blogs, newspapers, journals and other Web sites.
I think RSS are not just useful for keeping up to date professionally, but one can also make use of the same to make your library sites timelier and more interesting for their visitors. Information experts are taking advantage of this information in an RSS format to create some new content.
There are basically four different feeds published from your blog. These are:
• Posts feeds - this is the feed for your most recent blog posts. Comments - the most recent comments from the whole of your blog.
• Per-post comments - the most recent comments made to a particular post.
• Labels - posts or comments linked to a particular label in your blog.
RSS feeds offer a unique channel for distributing content that can help expand your audience to people beyond those who visit your web site.
RSS feeds can also be an important part of a search marketing campaign. Well optimized feeds can also gain prominent placement on search engine result pages, attracting even more traffic. The image below shows how it works
RSS can do much more than just giving your headlines
Today one can instantly publish or receive bits of text because of the wide spread Internet. There is no limit to what RSS can do than just showing latest news and blog updates. It carries marketing skills that can prove very powerful to any user or firm.
In the simplest example, you could spiff up your Web site by adding RSS feeds from news services or blogs that will intrigue site visitors. More strikingly, in the future, RSS may handle marketing tasks where e-mail now falls flat. As with e-mail, visitors can sign up for marketing alerts (for instance, useful product news plus discount coupons). Unlike e-mail, visitors can rest assured that they can't be spammed. If you don't like what you're getting via RSS, just pull the plug.
Today a very small number of people use RSS, but that might change very soon. As RSS support is integrated into other appls such as IM and email, it will soon be a big deal. People will have no choice but to start thinking about it.
The growing importance of RSS
RSS is moving ahead as a communications medium that helps companies trace a new way to reach their potential customers, promote products and services enhance the overall visibility of their firm. RSS controls the power of Internet to enable companies to communicate more effectively with each of its specific audiences,
In addition RSS can provide high tech startups with a direct link to the most influential audience segment, and the one that can help your company grow the fastest. Whether read on their PC, PDA, or cell phone these key influencers rely on RSS everyday to catch up on technology trends and important new developments.
We can say that RSS is quickly entering the mainstream. Today, many of the largest, most established publishers such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, and Fortune provide news in RSS format. Others will surely follow. In the corporate world, many companies have already discovered that effective use of RSS can improve a company’s search engine rankings.
Where companies all over the world approach through push medium, RSS is a pull medium. Readers choose to receive specific content via RSS reader. For any company this might help them circulate their press release to editors of customers who express specific interest in their product or technology.
The best examples of push sales are today’s traditional media (television, newspapers. radio) that provides the same information out to many readers. While on the other hand this pull medium may sound very interesting to a lot of companies. It’s strength lies in the very granting of permission of those who choose to receive it. Those who elect to pull in your content are going to be the ones who really want to read it, and there is great power in that.
Companies such as Microsoft and IBM syndicate information via RSS feeds to reach specific external audiences such as the media, Wall Street analysts, customers, partners, distributors, and resellers. Intel offers a suite of feeds that includes Intel Products, Intel Press Room, Intel Investor Relations, Software at Intel, Networking and Communications, Intel Reseller Center, and IT@Intel. It also offers country-specific RSS feeds from Brazil, China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and others.
Lets take a look at some of the world’s best companies that effectively implemented RSS technology to their advantage
Ebay
 eBay has recently added RSS feeds to its search results, allowing users to track their favorite auction items in their news readers. Given that most RSS readers only check for new feeds every half hour, listings in the feeds won't have an end time less than 15 minutes from the time the feed is retrieved.
Yahoo and MSN
Companies like Yahoo and MSN have integrated RSS into their offerings.
MSN has started an early test of a Web-based RSS (Really Simple Syndication) aggregator, while Yahoo has expanded into mobile access to the news feeds gathered on its My Yahoo personalized home page service.
 
Both moves signal a growing interest in the RSS news reader market that has largely been dominated by upstart companies providing both desktop aggregators and online services for reading news feeds.
Growing future of RSS
Pushing advertising through RSS has already begun. Both Yahoo Google began experimenting with the concept earlier this year.
RSS is a great way to prime the pump and deliver information to the many different audiences that can benefit your company. It is perhaps the most effective way yet to leverage the vast reach of the Internet, by putting the right information in the right hands at the right time. Whether, it serves as an external means of promoting your company and its products and services, or as part of your internal efforts to make your employees more knowledgeable and more productive, RSS will be a part of your marketing communications efforts.
In short this simple tool with the funny sounding name, is just what you need to improve your company’s content deliver, increase your online visibility and search engine rankings, and generate more traffic.
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